Mexico Puts FARAC Sequel on the Block

Mexico launched Thursday the follow up to last year’s highly successful FARAC toll road auction. The so-called “Pacific Package” incorporates some existing roads – Guadalajara-Tepic, Mazatlan-Culiacan and Aeropuerto Los Cabos-San Jose del Cabo – and a few others to develop, Mexico’s public credit head Gerardo Rodriguez tells LatinFinance. Among the latter are the Mazatlan bypass, Culiacan bypass, Guadalajara southern bypass, Compostela-Puerto Vallarta and San Josa del Cabo-Cabo San Lucas. The government has predicted a $2bn value for 14 projects over 2008. The first package from Mexico’s Fideicomiso de Apoyo para el Rescate de Autopistas Concesionadas (FARAC) trust was sold in 2007 to Empresas ICA and Goldman Sachs Infrastructure Partners. The MXP37.1bn loan package secured was the first such international financing done in pesos, and the biggest local currency syndication the LatAm project market has ever seen. This year’s concessions were expected by bankers to yield more than $1bn in new debt.